U.S. Considers New Tools in Global AIDS Fight

From CDC National Prevention Information Network

December 16, 2010

On Tuesday, the director of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief said new methods to slow the spread of HIV may have a place in the program's arsenal. Eric Goosby said PEPFAR is closely monitoring the progress of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and microbicide gels.

Advertisement

PrEP involves giving AIDS drugs to uninfected people at high risk for HIV. Last month, new research showed that giving the HIV drugs emtricitabine plus tenofovir to men who have sex with men markedly reduced their risk of contracting HIV.

PEPFAR provides South Africa with approximately $560 million annually. The program recently signed a new five-year deal to help South Africa, which has the world's highest HIV/AIDS caseload. Under the commitment, the United States will help the country identify its HIV/AIDS-fighting priorities and improve its health care infrastructure, said Goosby.

South Africa has proposed using PrEP to treat uninfected inmates, as the country's prisons are major HIV vectors, said Goosby.

"We would support PrEP in terms of high-risk populations," Goosby said, noting that various country approval plans are already under internal consideration.

Microbicide gels, which would be used to protect women from HIV during sex, also could play a part pending additional research and regulatory approval, said Goosby. Results from a South African trial of tenofovir in a gel formula showed it lowered female participants' HIV infection rate by 30 percent.

"We haven't worked out the delivery system or the dosing or interval of application," Goosby noted. "We are absolutely positioned to engage in it as soon as we know those."

(Please note: Your name and comment will be public, and may even show up in Internet search results. Be careful when providing personal information! Beforeadding your comment, please read TheBody.com's Comment Policy.)

The Body is a service of Remedy Health Media, LLC, 750 3rd Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017. The Body and its logos are trademarks of Remedy Health Media, LLC, and its subsidiaries, which owns the copyright of The Body's homepage, topic pages, page designs and HTML code. General Disclaimer: The Body is designed for educational purposes only and is not engaged in rendering medical advice or professional services. The information provided through The Body should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or a disease. It is not a substitute for professional care. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, consult your health care provider.